Hand of the Artist
by Acolyte of Truth
Summary: A mistake during Naruto's fight with Deidara results in him being launched to another dimension. What's more, his arm was replaced. Now he needs to dodge witches, peolpe who can turn into weapons, and other such freaks. Oh, and Akatsuki followed him.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: You should all probably know that I own nothing related to either to Naruto or Soul Eater. In fact, the only objects I claim ownership over are any O.C.s that may or may not appear later in this story. That, and this completely, 100 percent original plot that you are not likely to see anywhere else. And if you do, it is probably a knock off, and, therefore, your, the reader's, obligation to band together and rise against the perpetrator of such blatant thievery. Unless, of course, I give this up for adoption for some obscene reason and don't tell you, or I let them use the plot device for a different crossover. You know what, on second thought, just inform me and forget all about it afterwards if you find something like this. That being said, this is only a preview, unlikely to be continued for a year, and only if it wins the current poll. For more information, skip to the bottom of this page after reading the story, starting after a line break, title, and 7 more words of this and a period.

/

Chapter 1: Just One of Those Days

Hatake Kakashi was distressed. If one who knew him looked upon him at this moment, they would be able to tell this easily. For one, gone was his ever-present book of smut. Another, more obvious, sign, was that his hitai-ate was pulled up, revealing his left eye's sharingan. However, it wasn't a normal sharingan.

No, over a few years of intense training, the eye had morphed, mutated. Gone were the three tomoe. They had fused together to form a strange, pinwheel-like design. And with it, came a new power, one he was currently trying to use. It just took a little while to concentrate the needed chakra to use the jutsu, one of the reasons the jounin was so stressed out.

The other reason was also the reason he had to use the jutsu in the first place. Currently, the infamous Copy Ninja was chasing down the dangerous S-class criminal, member of the Akatsuki organization, Deidara. Why? Well, that took a bit more explaining.

To put it simply, the criminal had kidnapped the kazekage, Gaara. Deidara had engaged the jinchuuriki over the night skies of Suna, having successfully infiltrated the village with his partners aid. From what Kakashi understood, Gaara had broken one of the criminal's arms with his sand, before Deidara dropped a large explosive that would have leveled the village. Gaara, though, erected a gigantic sand shield to protect his village, leaving him open to an attack.

The Akatsuki then proceeded to extract the bijuu out of the kazekage, killing him, before Kakashi and his team had managed to break in. Deidara quickly left, his partner staying behind to engage Sakura and Chiyo, while Naruto had taken off after him, Kakashi not far behind.

Quickly, Kakashi glanced at the student to his right, not willing to take his eye off of the criminal in front of him for long. He was able to clearly see Naruto's anger, personified by the red glow surrounding him, twin tails of crimson flowing behind the blonde.

Seeing that made Kakashi think back to something Jiraiya had told him before he left. As long as he didn't go up to more than three tails, he was fine. But still, better safe than sorry. "Calm down, Naruto," the masked man said, catching the blonde's attention. "We'll get Gaara back."

"Yeah," Naruto replied, a bit drearily. Even though they wanted to get Gaara back, Kakashi knew that he was dead. He knew Naruto knew it, too, but he also knew that the blonde wouldn't fully accept it until he saw it for himself. It was a closure thing, something Kakashi was willing to help his student get.

That settled, the silver-haired man once again focused on his target. He was flying on a giant bird made of clay, a special ability of his. In the creature's mouth, the kazekage laid, motionless. Deidara himself was dressed in the customary Akatsuki robe, solid black with red clouds and lining. The left sleeve was swaying freely, showing the arm was unusable.

At that moment, the criminal looked back at his pursuers, checking how long he had left. His flowing blonde hair slapped against his face slightly from the high speeds he was moving at, but he could still clearly see the two gaining fast, causing him to scowl. However, that scowl soon turned into a grin. He would just have to fix that, wouldn't he?

With that, Deidara spat the lump of clay he was chewing out of the mouth in his palm. Taking a few seconds to form it, he then flung it back at Naruto and Kakashi, aiming directly for the latter. Naruto paid the small swarm of little mind, dashing past them. That is, until they exploded right behind him.

Turning his head, Naruto could only see a thick cloud of smoke where Kakashi was supposed to be. He stopped momentarily, growling and fearing the worst. He was put slightly at ease when he heard Kakashi's voice call to him. "I'm fine, Naruto! Keep after Deidara! Don't lose track of him! I'll catch up!" as the smoke cleared a bit, Naruto could see Kakashi pinned by a few large pieces of wood. He just nodded to the man before continuing off after Deidara.

Less than a minute later, Kakashi was free and was speeding off after the two blondes. Thanks to his years of experience, it wasn't long before he had caught up to them. Naruto was still trailing behind, but that was what Kakashi had expected and hoped for. He didn't want his student digging a hole for himself.

However, he could see that Naruto was getting activated, probably due to him being aggravated by Deidara. He would need to help him out, and soon. "Naruto!" he called out, catching the blonde's attention. Actually, both blondes' attention. The point is, seeing Kakashi helped to slightly calm Naruto, and worried Deidara.

"Sensei!" Naruto called back, surprised. However, that surprise soon turned to seriousness. "Sensei, we need to do something fast! We need to get Gaara back! We need...!" the boy was suddenly cut off by his silver-haired elder.

"Calm, Naruto. We need to think through every action we make." however, this had the exact opposite effect as intended and only incensed Naruto further.

"The time for thinking is over! We need to take action!"

"Naruto, listen!" Kakashi said harshly. Truly, he cared about his students, but sometimes they required a more... heavy handed approach. "I know that you want to save Gaara and I know that you think we need to stop." Naruto looked down slightly at this. Kakashi was completely right. "And I agree with you."

"Wha-?" Naruto started, surprised. He wasn't expecting that.

Kakashi just gave him an eye smile, showing his amusement. "You aren't the only one who has learned something over these past three years. Allow me to show you what I've learned." It was at that point that Naruto finally caught sight of Kakashi's new sharingan eye. He was, unremarkably, surprised.

"Sensei, is that...?"

"Hush, Naruto. Just watch and learn." while Deidara couldn't exactly hear what the two were saying, he knew that it couldn't be good. That worry increased exponentially when the criminal noticed the air around him start to shimmer, almost as if it was unraveling around a focal point.

Try as he might to get away, the distortion seemed to stay on him, getting smaller and smaller, before the disruption finally closed in around his arm completely. Deidara screamed in pain as his good arm was separated from his body. It didn't just fall off, though. It was gone. Like it had been sucked into the air itself. That was the arm that had his ring, too. Damn.

Naruto, who had seen the whole thing, could only stare on in awe. "Whoa," he said. Then his face split into a grin. "Great! Now we can go over to him and kick hi ass!" Naruto was about to speed on ahead, but Kakashi stopped him.

"Not so fast, Naruto. He may not be able to use any more jutsu, but his bird is made of clay, he can still make it explode. Let me try again." While it was true Kakashi couldn't exactly control his new technique, he thought that he should give it another shot. Deidara wasn't just going to accept that though.

The crippled man needed a distraction, needed something else to get sucked into the trans-dimensional ripple surrounding him that wasn't him or the bird. Looking back, he noticed Naruto, and an idea formed in his head. The kid was easily susceptible to persuasion, wasn't he. Let his emotion control him? Deidara just needed to bait him a bit.

"Stupid brat!" he shouted out. Kakashi narrowed his right eye, wondering what game the criminal was playing. Naruto, however, didn't see it as that. "What makes you think I'm going to allow myself to die in such a drab way? I have a more... artistic way in mind! Unfortunately, I'll have to take your friend with me, but an artist must make sacrifices for his passion, including involving philistines like him!"

Naruto's eyes widened as Deidara started to laugh, and so did Kakashi's, but for different reasons. Naruto thought he was going to blow himself up and take Gaara with him. Kakashi, though, saw the ruse for what it was, and had his suspicions confirmed when Naruto rocketed off after the flying blonde.

"Naruto, wait!" Kakashi reached out for his student, but it was too late. He couldn't stop the jutsu, and Naruto had just jumped into the distortion previously surrounding Deidara in an attempt to save Gaara. He pulled his fist back to punch, before he felt the tingling, pulling sensation of thee vortex surrounding him. Soon, it became too much, and the shock caused Naruto to pass out.

Kakashi could only watch as his student was finally sucked into the vortex completely, leaving only his arm behind. "No," he said, not wanting to believe it, as Deidara just flew away, laughing the whole time. For a few seconds, the jounin just stood their, before chasing off after Deidara again. Naruto had just wanted to save his friend, so Kakashi would make sure he got Gaara back, and made sure Deidara paid for what he did.

/

"Ahhgh, damn. What happened?" asked Naruto, sitting up lazily. Wincing a bit, he reached up and grabbed his head to fend off a headache. He remembered being tricked by Deidara and being sucked into that stupid wormhole. And, to be frank, he was angry.

He was angry at Deidara for both kidnapping Gaara in the first place and getting him into position to take the attack. He was mad at Kakashi for preforming the attack a second time when they easily could have taken Deidara after the first time. Most of all, he was mad at himself for not thinking. Right now, he was making a vow to think things through better. Or, you know, at least try.

The self-loathing would have to wait, though. First, Naruto had to figure out just where he was. Taking quick stock of his surroundings, the blonde deduced that he was in a sewer, in ankle deep water, with red and blue pipes running the length of the walls and ceilings. In other words, he was in his mind.

"Damn, I must've really fucked up,"said Naruto. And it was a reasonable conclusion. After all, the only times he showed up in this place was when he got his ass in some serious shit. So, figuring he should figure out the problem ASAP, the blonde began down a path he had previously memorized to find the one who got him there.

It wasn't long before he came to a large atrium so tall one couldn't see the ceiling. In this chamber was a cage, orient bars stretching to wherever the ceiling was. The gates were held shut with what appeared to be but a flimsy piece of paper with kanji on it, but it was far more powerful than that. It had to be to serve its purpose.

Naruto walked into the room, head held high, and didn't stop until he was about three meters from the cage. And when he did, a wave of malicious intent washed over him, something so potent that it would incite fear in the souls of those much older and with more experience. To Naruto's credit, he did nothing but shiver.

"**You are truly a FOOL! Have you any idea what you have done?" **a great voice barked out. From the cage, a set of large, crimson eyes snapped open, and the intent coming from it increased ten-fold. The cage became awash with a deep, red glow, illuminating a large fox, its fangs bared in obvious contempt as it snarled wildly. Still, Naruto stood his ground.

"Please, spare me your 'holier than thou' speeches. I fucked up, I can admit that. But I thought I was saving my friend. I would think you would be able to somewhat understand that, considering those bastards made off with one of your own kind."

The beast continued to growl, but it let up slightly as it contemplated what Naruto had said. Finally, to the blonde's shock, the beast seemed to agree with him, though the contemptuous tone remained. **"As much as it pains me, you aren't far off in your assumption. However, consider this. The sealing of the Ichibi is nothing more than the gathering of a lost limb, waiting for the other remnants to be recombined with it. However, it goes deeper than that. The price to pay for once again being whole and regaining full power is a lost sense of self, the lack of individuality. In short, we would become a sort of hive mind if brought fully together, which I have no doubt is this 'Akatsuki' group's intention. Believe me, that is the only reason I don't try to influence you to be captured by the group."**

Naruto was actually impressed by the Kyuubi's response, but a few thing still bothered him about that. "Wait, why would you care about something like individuality? I mean, isn't power the most important thing in life to something like you.

The Kyuubi just seemed to scoff. **"Don't insinuate that I am no more than an instinctual beast. It is insulting. As for your question, I have been trapped behind this cage for sixteen years. I have had everything but my own sentience stripped from me. It is all that remains of my freedom. I would kill us both before I lost that, believe you me, regardless of how rash it is. If you cannot understand that, you are more pitiful than I thought."**

There was an awkward silence after that, as Naruto worked to digest the information. However, having been as oppressed as he was when he was small, it wasn't all too hard for him to relate. "I... think I understand."

"**Good,"** the Kyuubi said, giving a satisfied grin. However, it was quickly dropped, as matters then turned more serious. **"Now then, the reason you were brought into your mind. We have been sent to a different dimension."** At hearing that, Naruto gaped openly and was about to give an indignant shout, but was quickly cut off. **"Wait, let me finish, because it gets worse. Due to your eagerness to get in the way of that attack, you weren't whole transported here."**

"What do you mean?"

Kyuubi just stared blankly, saying only, **"Your arm." **This prompted Naruto to look down and see, indeed , that his right arm was missing at the shoulder.

Wide-eyed, Naruto screamed, "Holy shit!" then, rubbing the stump, asked, much more calmly, "How did I miss that?" and, "Why doesn't it hurt?" Expectantly, the blonde looked up to Kyuubi.

"**You see, this is the irregularity. Normally, the loss of an appendage is only physical in nature, its 'sovereignty' remaining with the individual in spirit. However, that jutsu somehow managed to sever all ties between you and your arm, understandable since it warped reality itself. Normally, if an amputee were able to get their limb back, their spirit would quickly re-inhabit said limb. Without a spirit, though, even if you were to get another arm, it would be useless. You remember that Orochimaru fellow, don't you?" **Naruto just nodded, entrapped by the explanation. **"That is very similar to this. But, you don't need to worry with being a cripple. You see, when you came out of the vortex, you were incredibly close to that other blonde's arm. Similarly, it was inhabited by a spirit, by needed to be controlled. I was able to fuse the arm onto you, giving you any ability that man had."**

"Whoa, really?" Kyuubi nodded. "But wait, if that's all true, why isn't the arm's spirit here on me now?"

"**Well, you see, the melding of spirits is a much more complex process, it will be a few months before you are truly one, even with me acting as a catalyst. Rest assured, you will still be able to control the arm outside of here. Now, you will wake up soon, before you go, I have one request. Find a way back home. I refuse to die here and then go to a hell where I am not honored. I'm sure you feel the same about going to a heaven without loved ones. Just think about it."**

And with that, Naruto woke up, and the sewer disappeared from sight.

/

Sorry to cut it here guys, not any Soul eater in it, but it is already longer than my other preview chapters. Too much more, and that would be unfair. Regardless, what do you think? If you want to see more sooner, go vote for it on the poll on my profile, or if you haven't already, read the other competitors and make an informed decision. Poll closes whenever the fuck I feel like it, probably closer to when the winner will be continued. As for why this batch of stories is so late, I couldn't find time to write for this one. That's why I hate Thanksgiving. Before this turns into a rant, I'll end this now. Don't forget to vote!


	2. Chapter 2

So far, this chapter has gotten positive reviews. No one has pointed out any flaws so far, meaning that none of them are glaringly obvious if they do exist and that people are enjoying the plot so far, which is always good even if I don't think much has happened. Also got some complements on the novelty of this story, which, to me, is the biggest complement someone can give. I'm always looking to innovate how a fanbase views the objects of their admiration. Or, you know, something like that. In any event, thanks for the support thus far, and if you've already read what I posted previously, scroll down to where we left off. If you didn't read this previously and have little to no idea what I'm talking about... welcome, story's just a bit further down, hope you enjoy it like the others did. And as I side note, I'm adding an arbitrary title here as a place holder. Still looking for a better one, so think about it, if you would while reading.

/

Chapter 2: The Wrong Crowd

"Dammit!"

The shout echoed across the barren wasteland, carrying on for miles with nothing to impede it. Over dunes of scorching sand and cracked rock the sound traveled, but not even animals heard it, lifeless as the dessert seemed to be. In fact, the only living in the dessert seemed to be the origin of the shout.

And of course, Naruto was a bit too preoccupied to notice that he even made a noise in the first place. After all, the pain of having his arm ripped off was just hitting him. The blond was rolling around on the hard ground, grasping his arm where a bloody and useless stump should have been. Instead, his hand held the arm he Kyuubi had grafted onto him. Naruto was squeezing hard enough to bruise the new skin, but he really couldn't be bothered to care at the moment, the pressure he applied not really registering in the midst of the phantom pain he felt.

After a little more gasping and rolling around, Naruto did manage to sit up, still holding his arm. The pain had dulled enough that he could at least take stock of the situation. He started by inspecting his new arm. Opening and closing his palm a few times, as well as rotating his wrist and flexing the arm, he saw that the limb was at least responsive. Since his sleeve had also been torn off during the trans-dimensional trip, he noticed that there was no scarring where the graft had occurred. However, there was a slight difference in skin tone, the new arm being a bit lighter in colour then the rest of his body. That made the newly acquired bruise more noticeable.

Frowning a bit, Naruto gingerly touched the blackish-purple mark, only to have it throb and make him wince. Upon further inspection, the blond realized that the nails on his new hand were painted black. It made him scowl. A petty thing to be concerned with given his predicament, and something that could certainly be taken care of later, he knew, but the blond really didn't appreciate waking up to find his nails (even though they only recently became his (and only physically at that, according to the Kyuubi)) painted. It made him feel like less of a man, for some reason.

"And seriously, who thinks that's a good colour? Now maybe if they were orange..." Naruto mumbled to himself, trailing off as he noticed the ring on his index finger. "And what's this?" he asked himself, taking a closer look at the piece of jewelery. The band itself was made out of a black material, maybe ebony, whereas the stone seemed to be turquoise. "'Sei,'" the blond said, reading the kanji off the stone, before shaking his head. "Damn, is everyone in this 'Akatsuki' group as metro as that guy?"

Naruto's question was met by a dry, hot wind blowing through the area, making the blond look up and finally see that he was, in fact, alone in a dessert. Luckily, he still had his backpack, which had a bedroll, some provisions, and a canteen half full of water. That didn't, however, mean he knew what he was doing, and thus began traveling in a random direction, despite it being roughly noon and growing warmer. Naruto was beginning to sweat, but did no more than strip off his jacket and fling it over his shoulder (idly thinking that he had to find someone to mend the sleeve as soon as he found civilization) as he trudged onwards, still preoccupied with inspecting his new arm. There was still one thing he wanted to see.

Paying closer attention to the palm, he saw a thin line running down the middle. Furrowing his brow in confusion, the blond went about trying to discover how to go about opening the slit. He tried to part it with the fingers of his other hand, but found a surprising amount of resistance. He soon moved on to flexing his palm in a number of different manners, but still got no results. Quickly becoming annoyed, Naruto grabbed his arm and began violently shaking it (being mindful of his bruise). However, he grabbed in such a way that he contracted some muscles, and he could actually feel his palm opening. It wasn't unpleasant, but it certainly felt strange. Glancing at his palm, the blond saw that it had opened, revealing a mouth, tongue and all. Stretching the muscles again, the mouth closed, and soon Naruto was simulating a chewing motion with the palm-mouth. It wasn't long after that when he found out he could move the tongue independently, but since it was still new to him, he had to be mindful to not accidentally bite it off.

All in all, the whole experience left Naruto feeling giddy, as shown by the large smile on his face. He couldn't wait to test out what he could do. "Okay, so that guy seemed to chew clay or something with this little mouth, then he could form animal shapes and make them both come to life and explode. I figured out chewing, and while I don't know how to mold the clay or make it blow up, the next step is to find clay. I need to find a river of something."

As he said that, the boy retrieved his canteen and took a big gulp of water, noticing that his throat was unnaturally dry. He drank a bit more before returning the canteen, even though he was still thirsty. Another reason to get out of the dessert and find a river as soon as possible, he supposed. Still why did it have to be so dry? Looking up to the sun for an answer, Naruto stopped in his tracks.

Now, the blond had seen many strange things in his life; a weird snake-man with an obsession for young boys, his best friend sprouting giant webbed hands for wings, an ancient demon fox spirit larger than most multiple large buildings together, and, more recently, a man with mouths in his palms that could blow things up. The absolute last thing he expected to see was that the sun had grown a face.

Yes, the sun looked quite intimidating with its large size, deep orange colouring, and giant spikes circling it. That alone was different. However, add a blood-thirsty grin, eyes filled with murderous glee, and another, smaller spike to act as a nose, and it was just plain bizarre in the scariest sense imaginable.

Almost as if it was able to sense it was being stared, the sun turned its eyes to look at Naruto, then shook a bit, almost as if suppressing an evil chuckle at seeing the blond's dumb, slack-jawed stare, causing said blond to fall back in shock at the sudden movement. Then, it just turned its eyes back to face forward. At that moment, Naruto decided that it was definitely better to travel at night, eagerness and thirst be damned. He promptly took out his bedroll and, using a nearby rock, made a small tent he could hide under until the scary sun went away.

/

It was definitely not better to travel at night. While it was true Naruto no longer had to face the creepy sun as he traveled, he now had to deal with the moon which was just as bad, if not worse, considering the celestial body seemed to make a point of staring at him whenever the blond took glanced at the moon in turn, and blood also seemed to be dripping from its crooked grin, adding to the intimidation factor.

After a few hours of traveling, Naruto managed to completely suppress the urge to look up to the sky, even if it seem like the moon was doing everything it could to catch the blond's attention, from random crunching sounds it the sky to and almost screeching laugh. The whole situation sent shivers down Naruto's spine, though that could have just been a side-effect of the other problem with traveling at night.

It was freezing cold, to the point where Naruto could see his breath. By this point, the boy had put his jacket back on, but being short a sleeve was a real annoyance. He tried his best to shelter his new arm from the wind, but wasn't having much luck. Also, it was still really dry. Naruto knew he had to ration his water, seeing as he had a very limited supply and had no idea how long it would take to find more, the mountains he was heading to not appearing to get any closer, but it was hard, especially when it felt like there was always a piece of cotton in his mouth. All in all, the conditions just made him more determined to get out of the hellhole he found himself in (both the desert and dimension), but going about it still remained a mystery. As far as he was concerned, his best bet was to solider on ahead.

Not even a day had passed before the blond began to doubt the validity of his plan. Try has he might to hold out against thirst, the last of his water had soon run out. While he wasn't exactly tired from traveling, the blond did contemplate stopping for a bit and setting up shelter, if only to hide away from the sun for a while. He ultimately decided against it, though. He would just be wasting time, time that could be used to find water, to make his way out of the desert. He could keep going, he would keep going, because in his mind, if he were to stop, Naruto knew he would die.

A few more hours and the sun was setting again, the start of Naruto's second night in the desert, and still he felt as if he had failed to cover any ground, despite traveling for a full day nonstop. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked down at himself and glared. His shirt was drenched in even more sweat, more precious fluids. He had contemplated wringing out his shirt and drinking what he could get out of it, but the blond knew enough that sweat was mostly waste the body couldn't use in the first place, lots of salt, and that doing so would just do him more harm. Still, it was almost as if he was being mocked by the sun and its heat.

"_You're right, he is a tenacious bastard."_

Naruto paused in his tracks and looked around wearily.

"The hell?" he muttered to himself.

"_Maybe, but he looks about ready to keel over now. Good job."_

There was another voice, similar to the first, but slightly different. He wasn't sure how, it just was.

"_Not my fault he can't handle a little heat, or that he was stupid enough to travel with me around and without water."_

"_Cut him some slack, according to you, he just appeared out of thin air."_

Looking up, Naruto saw that while the sun was dipping below the horizon, the moon was peaking above it, and both were staring at each other instead of at him. He tilted his head in confusion. Were the sun and moon really having a conversation. And about what, him? No way that was possible.

Then, as if on cue, both turned to stare at him. _"Hey, he's looking at us weird,"_said the first voice, the sun. _"You don't think he can hear us, do you?"_

"_So what if he can? He'd write it off as hallucinations or something. Besides, he's always looked at us weird. It's probably nothing."_

"_Assuming he could hear us though, he probably wouldn't think it's just a simple hallucination now that you brought it up."_

"_Well I didn't bring up that fact that he may be able to hear us in the first place, did I?"_ replied the moon, a bit indignant that it was somehow being blamed for something of little consequence in a hypothetical situation.

Now, a normal person would be freaked out to see a couple of celestial bodies having a conversation about the individual in question. It wouldn't help if they had facial features and expressions, either. However, Naruto, in his dehydrated mentality, thought nothing of raising his hand and calling out to these two strange beings, asking, "Hey do you know a way out of here?"

Surprised by the interruption, the sun and moon halted in their conversation and glanced at the boy before looking back at one another.

"_Is he talking to us?" _asked the sun.

"_He couldn't be,"_ replied the moon, astonished.

"Um, yeah, or maybe just some water. That would be nice."

"_I think he is."_

"_Shut up, I don't want to hear it."_

"_Well, is this a problem? I mean,it's the first time it's really happened, so I wouldn't know."_

"_More importantly, what do we do?"_

"_What do you do? This isn't my problem."_

It was then that the moon noticed that the sun just kept going down, slowly abandoning the two.

"_Hey, don't leave me alone with this psycho! I don't know what to do!"_

"_Can't help you; need to stick to the order."_

"_Well screw you, asshole!"_

Then almost as if it were shrugging, the sun said, _"Try acting natural. Maybe he'll lose interest."_

And with that, the sun disappeared completely, leaving just Naruto and the moon. Quickly turning to him, the moon put on an insane grin, hoping to scare the blond off, or at least make him continue on his way. Naruto just gazed back expectantly, obviously waiting for an answer to one of his earlier questions.

Eventually, the moon's grin vanished completely as it regarded Naruto. Finally, it remarked to itself, _"Well, this is awkward."_

/

Try as he might to get a response from the moon, it just avoided eye contact with Naruto and continued floating across the sky, prompting Naruto to get a move on as well, despite the signs that he was going a little stir-crazy. He tried again when the sun came back up, but got a similar treatment. It was very off-putting.

After being blown off by the sun and moon, Naruto kept walking, brushing off his exhaustion for as long as he could. Of course, staying up for two days, constantly moving, and slowly dying of thirst, he could only fight it for so long. By noon, the blond's legs gave way as he collapsed face first onto a patch of sand. The sand burned his exposed skin, and what got into his mouth just made him all the more thirsty. He didn't have the energy to spit it out, though.

That didn't mean he was ready to just give up, or that he was away of his limitations. Face still in the sand, he put one of his arms forwards and tried to drag himself along the ground. Despite not being able to get a grip, or having the energy to continue on in this manner in the first place, he continued trying, knowing that if he just stayed as he was, he would surely die. It had yet to hit him that his refusal to stop at all had just sped up the process in the first place and had brought him to his current point.

Naruto remained oblivious to the two figures standing over him, partially covering his back from the harsh rays of the sun with their shadows, until they began to speak to one another, his ears straining to hear what they where saying and his mind working to relay it to him in his exhausted state.

"So, this is the guy who caused the disturbance?"

"It would appear that way."

"I'll give it to him, he's a tenacious bastard. But he isn't all too bright, is he?"

"No."

Catching the insult, the blond worked to raise his head and see who was there. As he struggled to lift himself up, he felt one of the people gently push his head back down, keeping his vision obscured.

"Well I'll be damned, he's still alive."

"He is, and given his reaction, he can probably hear us."

"Oh really?"

The voice that said that soon turned and regarded Naruto directly.

"Don't worry, we'll see to it that you escape from this hell soon enough."

Had he been in better condition, Naruto would have caught the malicious glee in the voice, but as it was, had to wait for the other voice to intervene before he even had a chance of figuring out the connotations of what was said.

"Enough playing around; you know our orders."

Naruto soon felt his legs get raised off the ground, followed shortly by his upper body as he heard the first voice say, "Well help me lift him, then. The bastards heavy."

Soon his body was draped over something more solid. For some reason, it made him feel more at ease, and allowed himself to relax. He could see the ground far below him before he allowed his eyes to close, fatigue overtaking him at this point. The last snippet of conversation he heard before passing out was, "We need to make good time if he is to survive. He still needs to answer some questions, after all."

/

The next thing Naruto knew, he was jolting upright from the bed he was in, not even aware that he was in a bed. Had he noticed, he may have been tempted to relax for a bit longer, considering his muscles were sore from how much he exerted himself earlier. However, the blond paid no attention to any of this, the only thoughts in his mind being that of the conversation he heard before passing out.

Eyes darting from side to side, he did a quick survey of the room, looking for one or both of the individuals who had undoubtedly saved his life. Nothing greeted him but barren stone walls. A frown slowly crept across Naruto's face as he realized just how desolate his surroundings were. In fact, the blond would have thought he was in a jail cell if not for the rather flimsy looking door on the other side of the small room and the open window just above him, affording him a glimpse of the night sky.

Standing up on the bed he finally noticed he was sitting on, he felt himself wobble a bit, his legs protesting their sudden use and the unstable surface they had to work with. Naruto soon found his balance, though, and poked his head out of the window. He promptly froze as his eyes met another familiar pair.

The moon's insane grin almost seemed to drop as it caught sight of the blond and proceeded to have a staring contest with him, more out of how awkward the situation was for both of them than anything else. Naruto was unnerved because he had initially been willing to write of the peculiar sun and moon first to the shock of entering a new dimension, then to simple head trauma that occurred during entry, then finally dehydration. The moon was unnerved because no one had ever really looked or interacted with it besides the sun.

Slowly, Naruto raised one of his hands and gave a casual, albeit weak, wave to the moon. The moon promptly broke eye contact and refused to reestablish it, not sure how to handle the whole situation. Fortunately for it, a stray cloud soon obscured their sight from the other, though if Naruto didn't know any better, it had appeared as if the moon had crawled behind the cloud, not the other way around. But it couldn't do that, right?

In any event, the whole situation was rather off-putting. "I can't believe the moon is the one who thinks _I'm_ strange. Where's the logic in that?" Naruto was mumbling to himself by now, considering there really wasn't anyone else he could talk to. "Seriously, it's not like I'm insane or anything."

The blond then noticed the other structures down below him, all made of stone, all designed to look both artistic and archaic, with high, looping arches and sharp points that weren't needed at all. More than that, though, was that there seemed to be a moderately sized crowed gathering down below.

Wondering what they could be doing, Naruto decide to find a way down there, and, while he could simply exit through the window, that didn't seem to be the best option. If anything, it would just startle the people if he just dropped in like that. Besides, if he walked through the building, he may be able to find someone who could explain everything (his being there, the congregation, the sun and moon, normal stuff) to him.

With his decision made, the blond hopped down from the bed and made for the door. The reached for the handle, preparing to grab for the knob, only to have the door swing inward unexpectedly and hit him in the face.

Recoiling in shock more than pain, Naruto fell back, holding his now very red face. Looking up to see just what had caused the door to swing inwards, he noticed a girl standing in front of him. She was perhaps a little older than him, with dark red hair that flowed down her back like a river of magma done up on a loose ponytail. She wore a tight blue top that bared her arms and accentuated her figure quite nicely, which went along well with the black skirt that showed off her long legs.

Her face was hard and her eyes, dull blue and cold, fixed and unassuming gaze onto the blond. Naruto didn't notice, though, as he found himself frozen in place, face now red for an entirely different reason than a simple knock to the face.

The girl didn't seem to notice this, however, as she crossed her arms underneath her healthily sized chest and continued to regard Naruto with little to no emotion.

"Huh, so you're awake. Saves me the trouble of waking you up."

She spoke with a clearly measured rhythm and off-handed tone. She then indicated behind herself with her head.

"What are you sitting around for? Let's move."

It was then that she noticed Naruto wasn't paying attention to a single word she was saying, instead seeming to look out into space.

"Hey, what are you looking at?" she asked, a bit of curiosity creeping into her voice.

That seemed to snap Naruto out of whatever state he was in as he looked up to meet her gaze, before quickly looking away and turning even redder, if that was possible. By now, the girl was extremely confused, and was beginning to wonder if the blond had suffered some type of brain damage, her emotionless mask slowly slipping.

"And what's with that reaction?"

"I... uh..." Naruto began, not really sure how to phrase what he wanted to say, unwilling to meet the girl's gaze again. In his mind, though, he decided to just come out and say what was on his mind, as opposed to testing the girl's patience. "I can see your panties."

There was a bit of a pause after that, the oppressive silence all but smothering the room and those in it. The blond decided to glance at the girl out of the corner of his eye to see how she was doing, only to see a deep blush, almost as red as her hair, cover her entire face as she registered what was said and realized that, yes, with the boy's position on the floor, he could probably see completely up her skirt..

With that, the facade broke completely and, with a flustered grimace on her face, she lunged at the boy and began strangling him with yells of, "Asshole!" and, "Pervert!"

/

"You know, for what it's worth, I'm sorry that happened."

The woman had eventually grown tired of choking Naruto and instead just instructed him to follow her through the halls of the seemingly abandoned building. The sound of their footsteps was the only thing to be heard for countless minutes and until Naruto spoke.

To the blond's surprise, the girl responded soon after his statement, after supposedly taking a brief moment to weigh the apology. To top it of, she didn't even sound angry, but obviously didn't want to relive the experience.

"It's fine. I guess I'm sorry for over-reacting, but can you do me a favor and not mention it again."

Naruto was a bit confused, both by the action and the request, but it still caused him to grin, since it seemed he was getting along with the girl.

"No problem," he replied. Not wanting the conversation to end, he decided to learn a bit more about the girl. "Hey, if you don't mind my asking, what's your name?"

There was another brief silence. This time as the girl debated whether or not it was okay to tell Naruto her name. She quickly decided that there wasn't much harm in it.

"Atsuko."

It seemed that she would stop asking there, so Naruto was prepared to ask her another question. To his surprise, though, she followed up with a statement of her own.

"You know, you're a pretty big dumbass."

"Huh?" was the blond's all too eloquent response, caught off guard by the statement as he was.

"I mean, when traveling in a desert, it's pretty common knowledge that you should find shade and stay put when the sun's out and to travel at night. And not to blow though your water within a day. Simple stuff, you know. But you, you traveled day and night, nonstop, and burned yourself out within days. While your stamina was impressive, you would have died had we not saved you."

Naruto was prepared to fire back with a witty response, when two things Atsuko hit him. The first was that everything she had said thus far was absolutely true. He really had no defense against it and really couldn't justify his actions. The second thing he registered was that she had been one of the people to save him. Surprised by this revelation, he said as much to her.

"Wait, you're one of the two who saved me?"

"Huh, so you could hear use," Atsuko replied absentmindedly.

"Well, thanks, I guess."

"Don't mention it," the girl said, waving off the blond's gratitude.

Naruto was quickly beginning to think he had Atsuko pegged all wrong. He initially thought that she was some emotionless robot with temperament issues or something, but now he was beginning to think that she was a nice, if not a bit blunt, girl.

"After all, I would have left you to die in that hellhole if I had the option, if only because you were stupid enough to get into that mess in the first place."

Okay, maybe a bit less nice and a bit too blunt. Then again, she could have just been bi-polar. In any event, Naruto found himself give a nervous chuckle at how morbid the mood had become.

"Why did you bring me here, anyway?"

"It's... best if you're told by the one who wants you here."

Naruto accepted the answer and continued following in silence until Atsuko led him outside. Once there, the blond recognized the big courtyard he was in as the place he saw where people were gathering earlier. Those people (all of whom Naruto realized were distinctly female) all turned to face Naruto and Atsuko. They were all wearing various styles of clothing, some with cloaks, most wearing strange hats. They quickly created a path for the two to move through, revealing a much more... prominent figure.

In the middle of the courtyard, hovering over everyone else, was a short woman, a cloak covering most of her body and a large, pointy white hat with what appeared to be a face stitched into it on her head, leaving all but her eyes and some strands of grey hair obscured. Naruto notice, though, that one of the woman's eyes was covered by a patch, and that the one that wasn't was fixed intently on him.

As they got closer, Atsuko bowed to the woman. "Mabaa-sama, this is the person you asked for, the one who caused the disturbance."

The blond just stared on helplessly, not entirely sure what this was about or what he should do. The old woman, Mabaa, spoke before he had a chance to think on it.

"Thank you, child. Now please, join the crowd, if you would." Atsuko nodded, moving back and standing next to a blue haired girl who was watching the proceedings intently, who she began whispering to. The woman then continued, this time regarding Naruto directly. "Now then, boy, do you know why you're here?"

At this point, the blond noticed that he was surrounded by a few dozen people, and that this was sounding quite a bit like a trial. Looking around a bit, he decided he could probably escape if need be by virtue of these people not knowing what he was capable of and his skill, never mind that he didn't know what they were capable of, either, or that he wasn't feeling at his best still.

Despite everything, he still couldn't help but addressing a certain issue before things moved on. "My name's Naruto."

"I'm sorry?" asked Mabaa, raising an eyebrow.

"You called me boy. My name's Naruto."

Hushed whispers began flying throughout the crowd at the audacity Naruto was showing. Did he not understand the gravity of the situation? From the corner of his eye, the blond notice Atsuko face-palming.

Ignoring the noise, Mabaa continued on, which effectively silenced everyone anyway. "That is hardly a matter of consequence at the moment. You are charged with using spatial magic, techniques only a witch should be able to able to utilize, strong enough to send a shockwave around the planet. You are clearly not one of us, and normally, the only other way you could use such a technique would be to incorporate another witch's tissue into yourself, an offense punishable by immediate death. However, during an examination of your body, while we found one of your arms to be suspect, it is not of witch origin, which is the only reason you stand before us know. So, the question remains, how did you employ your spatial magic?"

Naruto may not have known what magic was, but he also really didn't care. It's not like he wanted to even be there in the first place, but he didn't have a choice. Now, here he was, being treated like a criminal. He wouldn't stand for it.

"I don't know what exactly you're talking about, but I've done nothing wrong!" many were surprised with the sharp tone he took with Mabaa, as shown by the gasps heard around the courtyard, the the woman in question just kept her steely gaze leveled on Naruto. "Look, all I know is that there's been a mistake. I don't belong here. I accidentally got sucked into another dimension and ended up in the desert and now..." Naruto was cut off by Mabaa.

"Wait, are you saying you're here because of trans-dimensional travel from another plane of existence?" Naruto could see the woman was surprised from how wide her eye was, and how surprised everyone else was from how loud they were talking, unable to believe what h had said. Peraps it was a bit farfetched, Naruto realized.

"Yeah, I guess so," he replied, seeing how she was at least humoring him.

Mabaa was silent for a moment before addressing the crowd. "My fellow witches, this boy, Naruto, has just validated what was until recently a simple theory. For the longest time, our spatial magic could do little more than cordon off small sections of space in its own dimension. However, if what Naruto says is true, there are other inhabited dimensions out there, and it is possible to reach them. With further research into this, instantaneous travel may be possible, that and so much more."

"So, what, am I free to go?" asked Naruto, not really sure what the point of all this was or what was going on. "I need to find a way home."

"I'll do you one better," Mabaa replied, floating down until she was eye-level with him. "Feel free to stay here as we work on a way to transport both you and ourselves across dimensions. We will get you home if at all possible."

"Really?" asked Naruto, to which Mabaa just nodded.

"I can not provide a time-frame for this, however, as I'm unsure if what you say is one-hundred percent true, but I have faith. If it is at all possible, rest assured we will do it."

Naruto just grinned ear from ear, unable to believe how well things had turned out. Looks like he was on his way to returning home.

/

As you may be able to till, I'm still not done with this. I should be done by next week, though, so if you have any complaints, now's the the to tell me so I can rectify what I can. Tell me what you think, and see you next week. Also, for those who don't know, Atsuko is an O.C.. Older fans of mine may recognize her and, by default, know who the blue haired girl is. Just a little easter egg. Hope those who got it enjoy it.


End file.
